Month: October 2009

Tonight, Lili and I attended the 826 Seattle Benefit, which included a pass for two to catch the Seattle sneak preview of the children’s classic book, Where The Wild Things Are. My personal hero was there- Dave Eggers, with Max. You can purchase the book, The Wild Things, which was written for the screenplay. Buy the book here.The film itself is nothing short of a masterpiece. I am still quite undecided if the film is appropriate for children. If your child is old enough to not read the book anymore, than the film will be appropriate for them.If you are an adult and are going to see this film to recall childhood memories of the book, you will be surprised. This is a delightful, yet at times very dark film, but it doesn’t bear much resemblance to the book. It reminds me more of being a kid, growing up in the snowy winters of Buffalo, New York as an only child. It reminds me that at times there was no one else to play with but your own imagination, whatever it may be at any given time. For this, director Spike Jonze deserves the Academy Award. The Wild Things carry their own level of power, both in their emotional content as well as their pure size and energy. Each character has its own personality and most of them are obviously in the dark funk when Max arrives–but these Wild things suffer from the same daily complexities that we, as humans suffer from–from time to time. There is lovers scorn, hurt feelings from a torrid past, worries of stupidity and rejection from the group and vice versa. These are Wild Things–fictional characters that in the end don’t seem like they would have these kinds of problems in Max’s head, but we can all relate to each and everyone of them in our skin.This is what film is about my friends. Where the Wild Things are is the right mix of everything in life, the beauty, the depressing and the Wild. It’s all there and like Max, we can’t escape it–nor should we want to.